


Haunted

by HeyGhoulsTheBoysAreHere



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Abuse, Armin is a weeb, Bertholdt and Marco are related, Bertholdt has a huge family, Bertholdt is a pure child, Bertholdt knows nothing about technology, Blonde Levi, Buzzfeed Unsolved References, Cold Case - Freeform, Condoms apparently didn’t exist back then, Connie is secretly the avatar, Depressed Reiner, Dont ask why, Emo Levi, F/F, F/M, Femboy Eren, Gabi is an angel, Ghost Bertholdt, Ghost Hunter Armin, Ghost Hunter Marcel, Ghost Hunter Marco, Ghost Hunter Pieck, Ghost Hunter Porco, Ghost fluff, Halloween parties, Haunted Houses, Implied Trans Man Porco, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, Jean believes in Mothman, Jean is basically Shane Madej, Jean lives on Monster, Killing Stalking References, Levi has 40 piercings and tattoos, Low Self-Esteem, M/M, Mass Murder, NB Hanji Zoe, Never get drunk and go on ghost hunts, Nobody Dies, Ouija Boards, Past Abuse, Past Suicide Attempt, Pop culture references every chapter, Self-Harm, Self-Hatred, Skeptic Ghost Hunter Jean, Skeptic Reiner, Spirit boxes, Supernatural References, Toxic Relationship, except Bert but he’s already been dead for 100 years, ghost cuddles, goth mikasa, holy water guns, levi wears eyeliner, salt circles, seances, shit load of anime references, small town, 🎶STRUMMING MY PAIN WITH HIS FINGERS🎶
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-01
Updated: 2020-12-31
Packaged: 2021-03-07 02:35:34
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 12,654
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26259526
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HeyGhoulsTheBoysAreHere/pseuds/HeyGhoulsTheBoysAreHere
Summary: When Reiner Braun moves to a small town with a dark past. He unknowingly brings a ghost back home with him in a dare gone wrong. But in order to put the spirit to rest involves solving a 130 year old murder. How hard could it be?⚠️UPDATES EVERY WEEK⚠️
Relationships: Armin Arlert/Annie Leonhart, Krista Lenz | Historia Reiss/Ymir, Levi/Eren Yeager, Marco Bott/Jean Kirstein, Porco Galliard/Pieck, Reiner Braun/Bertolt Hoover, Sasha Blouse/Connie Springer
Comments: 56
Kudos: 62





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is just a Wikipedia article on the spooky stuff u can skip this

Hoover Family Massacre  
The Hoover Family Massacre is an unsolved mass murder committed in 1887, Liberio, Pennsylvania. The victims consisted of the entire Hoover Family, who were pillars and one of the richer members of the community (The eldest victim, 57 years old, and the youngest, 4 years old) all together 13 victims. The bodies were discovered by the closest friend of the eldest son, Ted Zodiac, who wasn’t considered a suspect due to a confirmed alibi. It is believed that there was more than one killer and they were close to the family and knew their way around the family’s large victorian mansion. It is theorized that the two eldest siblings may have been homosexuals and since 1887 Liberio was a very religious community, the murders could have been committed by an outraged member of the congregation. But there has been no proof of those allegations, and the best friend of the eldest Hoover daughter, Diana Troy, denied the claims. The brutality of these murders shocked the small community and brought an abundance of tourists to the murder site, trampling evidence, stealing items from the house, making grave marker rubbings which were sold, and many interested parties that wanted to solve the case moving to the small town. The murder weapons, believed to be a butcher knife, an axe usually kept in the back shed, a sledgehammer, a 45. Caliber pistol, and some type of rope, have never been found to this day. The killer also took trophies with them from each victim. The wedding rings of the elder Hoovers, a beloved book collection, a diploma, a well worn hat, a set of letters from a deceased friend, a dress, a key collection, a baseball, a locket, a pressed four leaf clover, a lucky penny, a red hair ribbon, and a porcelain doll. Some locals still believe that the abandoned mansion is haunted by the spirits of the family. There have been reports of sightings of the younger children playing in the yard and shadowy figures can be seen in the windows


	2. Welcome to Liberio

“What the hell is that?” Reiner asked as he looked out the car window to see an old haunted looking mansion.  
“Don’t tell me that’s our new house, Auntie Karina.” His younger cousin, Gabi, groaned as she looked up from her phone for the first time since they left Shiganshina. Reiner’s father barked a laugh from the driver's seat.  
“Of course not dear!” Karina said with a smile.  
“We live closer to town. But I heard that there’s some kind of urban legend that involves that house.”  
“What? Like ghosts?” Reiner scoffed  
“Cool! At least this town isn’t totally boring.” Gabi said.  
“Hate to break it to you cuz, but ghosts aren’t real!” Reiner said as he playfully ruffled Gabi’s hair.  
“Hey now, Reiner. Spirits and Demons are real. Remember what the good book says.” Reiner’s father said.  
“Seeing is believing.” Reiner shrugged.  
After 45 minutes they finally made it to town. It looked like something from Supernatural. A diner, old looking buildings, and a church made up the tiny town. “Want us to drop you two off at the diner?” Karina asked. Gabi shrugged. “Anything to get out of this car!” Reiner said as he jumped out of his seat. After a 13 hour drive Reiner was willing to sell his soul to stretch his legs. The diner was straight out of the 50’s, complete with a waitress wearing a pink uniform dress and red pumps. Gabi took a single seat by the windows while Reiner sat at the counter. The few diner patrons had their eyes glued on Reiner and Gabi like they could sense they were outsiders. There were five guys and three girls about Reiner’s age sitting at the far end of the counter looking at what appeared to be old newspapers and a laptop and looked like they were stopped midway into a deep conversation. There was an emo guy with lots of piercings and bleached blonde hair and tattoos covering whatever skin was visible under a heavy leather jacket who was sporting a red lipstick kiss mark on his cheek probably from the waitress who looked no more than seventeen. She was pretty cute though. There was a couple sitting at another table. The guy looked like Avatar Aang, while the girl had a half eaten sandwich on her plate. And sitting at the table in front of Gabi, were two girls, one blonde and one brunette, sipping milkshakes. And across from Gabi were three kids that were about Gabi’s age doing homework. After a few minutes of silence, the group at the laptop went back to whatever conversation they were having and soon after the rest of the diner went back to normal. Reiner could hear the Waitress’ heels clicking on the linoleum and stopping behind him. “Can I get you anything to drink?”  
Reiner was surprised to see that the hot waitress was actually a guy. But still he was pretty hot. “You must be new here.” The waitress/waiter said.  
“Uh, Yeah. Pretty obvious, huh?”  
The waiter smiled. “Kinda. It’s a small town.”  
“I’m Eren!” The waiter said while gesturing to his name tag. “My brother owns the place.”  
“What’s your name?”  
“I’m Reiner.”  
“Nice to meet you Reiner.” Eren said as he extended his hand. Reiner slowly shook it.  
“Those girls by the door are Ymir and Historia.” Eren said while pointing to them. The blonde waved while the brunette just gave him a blank look.  
“The couple at that table are Connie and Sasha.” The girl briefly tore herself away from her food to smile at Reiner while the Last Airbender did the same.  
“The kids are Zofia, Udo, and Falco.”  
The girl gave him a small smile, while the other boy just blinked at him. The boy with glasses peeped over his textbook but went right back to reading.  
“The scary looking guy is my boyfriend, Levi.”  
Eren said while blowing a kiss to the glaring blonde.  
“And the ghost hunters in the corner are He-Man, Pakunoda, Wednesday Addams, Horse Face, Freckled Jesus, Boku No Piku, Pocky, and Marcel.”  
“My name isn’t Horse Face!” One of the guys grumbled.  
“How come you only got Marcel’s name right?” A guy that was probably He-Man due to the fact they had almost the exact same haircut. He could tell that the girl with blonde hair was Pakunoda as one of his guilty pleasures was rewatching HunterxHunter even though he knew damn well that Gon and Killua would separate again. And he could see that she was almost a spitting image of the Phantom Troupe member, including the death glare.  
“Never mind, their real names are Armin, Annie, Mikasa, Jean, Marco, Pieck, Porco, and obviously Marcel.” Eren sighed.  
“Wait did you say ghost hunters?” Reiner asked.  
A manic glint went over He-Man’s eyes.  
“You mean you don’t know about the murders?” The goth girl asked.  
“No…”  
“Oh are you in for a treat!” Eren said as he plopped down in the seat next to him.  
Marco moved to the chair right next to Reiner and turned his laptop towards him.  
“Meet the Hoover family!”  
It was an old black and white picture of a family. Two adults, presumably the parents, and 12 kids.  
Jesus Christ, why were families so big back then?  
“They were very wealthy and one of the pillars of the community in 1887.”  
They looked wealthy. The girls were in fancy dresses and all the boys were wearing suits. The room the picture was taken in looked like something from a palace.  
“The family consisted of the parents, Henry and Mira, and the children in eldest to youngest order, Bertholdt, Audra, Jack, Leena, Ella, Sophie, Rowan, Victoria, Ben, Alexander, Lucie, and the youngest; Melody was only four.”  
They looked like a happy family. Everyone was smiling and laughing. Reiner was dreading what he knew was probably coming.  
“But one November morning, the eldest son, Bertholdt’s closest friend came over to see if he wanted to hang out and saw that the door was wide open.”  
Oh god… Reiner thought  
“When he walked inside… It wasn’t pretty.” Marco said with a solemn look on his face.  
He looked pretty shaken up, like he had known them personally. A girl with her long black hair draped over her shoulders patted Marco on the back. She softly smiled at Reiner and walked towards him. “I’m Pieck.” When she stood up, Reiner could see a brace on her left leg where her skirt didn’t cover.  
“It was a track accident.” Pieck said  
Reiner didn’t realize he was starting until that very moment.  
“O-oh, uh… Sorry.”  
Well done, now I look like a total creep now. Reiner thought  
“It’s fine. It was my fault anyways.” Pieck said  
“I wanted to beat the Pock in jumping on our team and he told me not to jump so high but I didn’t listen and I landed wrong in my leg.”  
“She’s lucky it wasn’t any worse.” The guy Reiner assumed was “Pock” said as he shook his head.  
“Anyways back to the case.” Jean said.  
“When the friend walked in he found the badly mutilated body of Bertholdt Hoover right in the foyer.”  
“How bad?” Reiner asked.  
“As in head caved in, nearly decapitated, bad.” Jean said  
Yikes. Reiner would hate to be this guy.  
“He would then find the bodies of the rest of the Hoover family all brutally murdered.” Jean said as he typed in a command on the computer and reached for a newspaper clipping. He handed Reiner photocopies of a newspaper. On the front page was a picture of the old house he saw with people surrounding it. Reiner could see parasols and families sitting on picnic blankets.  
“Why are all those people there?” He asked.  
“Because they were fascinated by it.” The brunette girl named Ymir said from her table.  
“It was like Murder Disneyland.” Connie said  
“Can you imagine a guy in 1887 sitting and wondering where he’s going to take his family for vacation and looks over at a newspaper that says “Entire Family Brutally Murdered in Home”  
And a lightbulb just goes off in his head.” Jean said and then started talking in a Shane Madej accent “Janet! Pack up the kids! I know where we’re going for vacation! We’re going to a murder house!” Reiner couldn’t help but laugh.  
“But seriously it was horrible. They would break into the house and steal stuff and make rubbings of the family’s gravestones.” Pieck said.  
“Eventually it got so bad that Mira Hoover’s family exhumed the bodies and buried them on private property.” Porco said.  
“Was anyone convicted?” Reiner asked.  
“Nope. Didn’t even find the murder weapons.” Porco frowned.  
“Weapons? As in plural?!”  
“A butcher knife, an axe, a sledgehammer, Henry Hoover’s .45 caliber pistol, and a rope.” Marcel said.  
“The cops back then thought that they were dealing with more than one murderer that knew their way around the house and that the family probably knew.” Jean said.  
“Personally I think that’s just bullshit with there being more than one guy because it would be easy to take care of the kids and since they lived so far away from town, nobody would hear them scream.”  
“And if it was just one guy coming home covered in blood, he could just say he went hunting and nobody would think much about it.” Levi said before he took a sip of what Reiner thought was tea. “A bit harder to cover up a whole group of guys coming home covered in blood.” Levi muttered.  
“But what about the ghosts?” Reiner asked. Even though he didn’t believe in them, he was a bit curious. If any place would be haunted it would be the place where an entire family was brutally murdered.  
“There have been sightings of Mira tending to her garden, lights on in the house, and children playing in the front yard.” Armin said.  
“But people who’ve stayed the night say that they’ve seen Leena braiding Ella’s hair, Audra reading in the library, Jack chasing Alexander, Sophie, and Rowan down the stairs, Lucie in nursery, Ben sitting in the window seat, Victoria in her room, Henry working in his office, and Mira has only been seen outside in the garden.” Mikasa said with the excitement of Gabi talking about BTS or BLACKPINK.  
“Tell him about Bertholdt and Melody!” Sasha said.  
“But the best one yet, is when people see Melody, she’s always knocking on Bertholdt’s door, calling out for him to play with her. Melody was one of Bertholdt’s favorite siblings and they say that Bertholdt was wrapped around her finger and he loved her so much.” Mikasa said, her cross earrings swinging back and forth as she rambled on. “But the thing is, out of hundreds of sightings, not one of them has been of Bertholdt.”  
“I’ve seen them.” Pieck said nonchalantly.  
“No way!” A voice behind Reiner said. He turned around to see Gabi with her jaw dropped, sitting at the table with Zofia, Falco, and Udo, who had put his textbook down.  
“Oh boy here we go again…” Jean groaned as he rolled his eyes. Pieck grabbed the computer and pulled up the picture of the family.  
“When I first came here, I believed in ghosts and immediately spent my first night in town at the Hoover house.” Pieck said. “I knew how protective Mira Hoover is about her garden, so I decided to walk through it to get to the house. And then I saw her. Let me tell you, she was PISSED. She just started screaming at me about how sick she was about people walking through her garden all the time and killing the flowers and telling me I was worse than her kids, stuff like that.”  
She had to be lying. Even if ghosts were real, he was pretty sure that they wouldn’t spend their afterlife guarding their gardens.  
“After listening to her rant for five minutes she just turned around and disappeared. I went in through the back door because it was closest to the window seat where Ben usually is.” Pieck said while pointing to one of the boys in the picture. The kid deadass looked like Young Yuno from Black Clover. “But sadly I didn’t see him. I didn’t have any luck in the nursery, library, staircase, or office either. I tried using my spirit box to try and see who else was in the house but I got nothing.”  
A spirit box is a device that goes through all radio channels in the area at high speed. It usually just sounds like static but if you can hear more than one word in a row, some people believe that spirits are trying to communicate with them. In all the Buzzfeed:Unsolved episodes Reiner’s watched that shows Shane and Ryan using the spirit box, Reiner tended to side with Shane in a majority of the episodes.  
“But after walking around the house for a few hours, I decided to put my sleeping bag down in the living room and right when I was about to fall asleep-“ Pieck then pointed to a girl in the picture. “I saw Victoria standing under the living room arch. I’ve got evidence if you want to see it.” Pieck said as she scrolled through her phone.  
“Evidence!” Jean snorted.  
Mikasa shot him a dirty look. “Ignore him. He’s a nonbeliever.”  
Pieck then turned her phone towards him as a video began to play. It was dark, and Reiner could hear the crickets chirping.  
“Victoria?” Pieck said.  
Reiner could see a shadow under the elaborate living room arch that looked similar to a little girl.  
“Are you Victoria Hoover?”  
And just like that the shadow was gone.  
There were a number of things that could have been, all of them definitely not a dead little girl.  
“I’ve seen some of them too.” Annie said.  
“On our first date, Armin took me to spend the night at that house. I just thought he was an idiot for believing in ghosts.”  
“An adorable idiot.” Armin chimed in before being flicked in the forehead by his girlfriend.  
“Anyway, in the middle of the night, I felt someone braiding my hair. At first I just thought Armin was screwing with me but when I woke up I saw two little girls braiding my hair. I woke Armin up and they just disappeared. But my hair was still in braids.” Annie said.  
“Liar. You started screaming bloody murder and you jumped into my sleeping bag.” Armin said with a smirk.  
Annie glared at him. “Armin did manage to take a picture of the braids.” Annie showed Reiner a picture of two very neat French braids tied with ribbons. Was this enough to convince Reiner that ghosts are real?  
Nope.  
“What would happen if the crime is solved?” He heard Gabi ask from the front of the diner.  
“Nothing I guess.” Zofia shrugged.  
“Yeah what are they going to do? Put a skeleton in jail?” Jean scoffed.  
“Wait. Isn’t there like a cemetery for murderers?” Connie asked.  
“Kinda like a prison for the afterlife!” Ymir screeched.  
“But it would bring closure for my family.” Marco said.  
“You’re family?”  
“Yeah, my dad’s Mira Hoover’s great-great-something nephew. Technically we own the house. My mom wants to renovate it and turn it into a museum.”  
“I’m sure my father would agree to it! He’s the mayor!” Historia added.  
“But do all of you guys seriously believe in ghosts?” Reiner asked.  
Almost the entire diner said yes (even Levi) but Jean just shook his head. “There’s no way ghosts exist. Most of the sightings are just a little too specific.”  
Finally.  
Someone that understands…  
“What about you?” Marco asked.  
“No I don’t.”  
There were a few looks of disappointment but Armin, Mikasa, Eren, and Pieck all had looks of excitement on their faces.  
“You will if you spend the night!” Armin said.  
“Well I pulled an all-nighter in that house and all I saw were some very alive rats.” Jean said.  
“That’s because your negative aura scared them away.” Mikasa scowled.  
“Fine, I'll tell you what.” Jean began. “If Reiner spends the night in the house and sees something that makes him a believer. I will scream ‘Ghosts are real’ from the rooftops.”  
“Do it, Reiner!” Gabi shouted, while pumping her fist in the air.  
Marcel and Porco were looking at him with hopeful smiles.  
“If Reiner makes you a believer, you’re doing all of our laundry for six months.” Marco said.  
“Deal.” Jean said as he and Marco shook hands.  
Marco turned around and pointed around Reiner’s chest. “You’re doing it, right?”  
“I guess I don’t have much of a choice.”  
There were cheers from the ghost hunter table.  
“Where do you live, Reiner?” Eren asked.  
Reiner didn’t know the address off the top of the head but had it saved on his phone. Reiner handed Eren his phone and showed him the address. “Oh! You live right next to Porco and Marcel!” Eren exclaimed. “And Annie lives a block away from you!”  
“We can give you a ride tomorrow.” Porco offered.  
“Sure. Just let me tell my mom not to expect me home tomorrow night.” Reiner said.  
“Dress warm. It gets pretty chilly.” Pieck suggested.  
Going to spend a night in a old murder house.  
What’s the worst that could happen?  
It’s not like Reiner was going to actually see anything.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for enduring that 
> 
> Whoever got the references gets a lollypop


	3. Research

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long wait! I will be posting another chapter today!

One hour.  
He had one hour until Porco and Marcel would pick him up and take him to the Hoover House. He had packed his bag right after he and Gabi got home from the diner. Reiner was curious about the mass murder and decided to do some research. After browsing through a few articles and ordering a few books on the case from Amazon, Reiner went out on a limb and typed “Hoover mansion haunting” into the search engine. A whole bunch of videos and ghost hunter pages popped up. Most of the videos looked fake but one in particular caught his eye. It was a ten minute clip of a ghost hunter wandering around the eldest son’s room. The video was grainy and the audio was not the best. The video must have been shot from a phone. The camera made a sudden jolt and a blur was seen in the middle of the screen. The cameraman must have dropped the phone and ran out of the room as running footsteps could be heard out of frame. Reiner had to rewind the video over and over again until he could get a good look at the blur. It looked like it could have been a person. But there was a way that could have been a person. There was a second person in the room and moved into that position when the camera was facing the other direction and the cameraman could have shook the phone so viewers couldn’t get a full look at the person. A perfect hoax. Reiner watched a few more videos to kill the time until Marcel and Porco could pick him up. Reiner’s phone went off before he could watch an “Unsolved Mysteries” episode on the case. It was a text from Marcel.  
Marcel  
Hey! I’m on the way to your place. Porco isn’t coming because he and Pieck have a “test to study for.” Armin and Jean wanted to come w me to see how you’ll do.  
Reiner turned his computer off and grabbed his backpack before throwing on a hoodie. Marcel pulled into his driveway five minutes later. Armin was in the backseat wearing Subaru’s hoodie from Re:Zero with Jean next to him wearing a leather jacket with a “I’m Gay for Mothman” shirt underneath. Marcel was In the driver's seat with a vape in his hand. “There you are! We thought you chickened out!” Marcel said as he took a puff. Reiner got into shotgun and tightly clutched his backpack. He’d forgotten to take his meds that evening but he sure as hell wasn’t about to pull them out and take them in front of other people. “You ok?” Jean asked from the backseat. “You seem a little fidgety.” He had a small emergency stash in his backpack and wallet. Reiner would have to take them when they got to the house. “I’m fine.” Reiner managed to get out. “So who’s the better waifu? Rem or Emilia?” Reiner asked, trying to change the subject.  
“Rem obviously.” Armin replied.  
“Neither! Zero Two is best waifu!” Jean shot back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Zero Two is best waifu fIGHT ME MORTAL


	4. The Hoover Mansion

It took about an hour to get to the house. It looked even worse in the dark. The windows were covered with vines and the ones that weren’t covered were broken. The paint was chipping away and the wood was rotting. Weeds were covering the lawn. Marcel took the lead as they walked through the front door. The inside was worse than the outside. Graffiti covered the peeling wallpaper and floors. Beer cans and other paraphernalia littered the floors. Reiner saw a few warnings on the walls like “Go Away.” Or “All Who Enter Die” there were a few Buzzfeed:Unsolved quotes on the walls too.   
“Oh hells yea!” Jean suddenly said as he walked towards a spot on the floor. It was a pentagram in red spray paint.   
“Oh Lord…” Marcel groaned as he shook his head.  
Jean lied down on the pentagram and spread his arms and legs out.  
“Here we go!” He shouted with a grin on his face  
“You’re out of your mind.” Armin said  
“Rock and Roll, Buckaroo!”   
“Ignore him.” Armin said. “He doesn’t believe in ghosts but he wants to fuck Mothman and get possessed as a joke.”  
“This demon’s a wimp!” Jean said while still lying on the pentagram.  
“The demon’s probably scared of you.” Marcel said. 

Armin gave Reiner a rundown on the house. Which rooms weren’t safe to sleep in, which stairs were unstable, which Chandelier was loose, and a hand-drawn map with notes on each part of the house on it. Armin also lent him a spirit box and EMP. Armin and Marcel managed to drag Jean from the pentagram after he said he would make “Satan his whore.”. Marco would pick him up at 6AM. They left at 10:30. Reiner had almost nine hours to kill. Reiner immediately put his backpack down on a clean enough part of the living room floor and dug out his meds. Two for his depression, one for anxiety, and one for ADHD. He rolled his sleeping bag out and grabbed the thermal camera his dad had for hunting. He set it up on a tripod and grabbed his flashlight as he left the living room. The first two hours were uneventful. He had covered the entire first floor with nothing unusual. He decided to go upstairs and check out the rooms and the attic. He took the stairs by the window seat. Reiner opened Armin’s map and saw two notes by the window seat and stairs. “Ben Hoover seen at Window Seat.” And “Jack chasing Alexander, Sophie, and Rowan downstairs.” Reiner decided to turn the EMP on to see if there were any spikes. Shockingly, there were none. The EMP remained the same as he covered the rooms of the Elder Hoover’s and where four of the younger girls slept. Reiner walked down the hall that Henry Hoover’s office was and the library that Audra was frequently seen in. Reiner opened the door to the library and walked in. All the books were still on the shelves and there was a stack on the table with one still open with a wooden bookmark in place. A pair of reading glasses sat on the stack of books as if they were waiting for their owner that would never return. Reiner looked at the map and saw a note from Armin. “Throw a book from the desk.” Without hesitating, Reiner picked up the book on the top of the pile and threw it across the room. It bounced off the wall and landed on the floor with a dull thud. Reiner waited for a minute before leaving to see if anything would happen. When the book didn’t move from its spot, Reiner couldn’t help but feel disappointed. He left the library but not before taking the bookmark out from the open book and making a mental note of what page it was in before shutting it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Who got the reference?


	5. Mind Tricks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy watching Reiner harness his inner Shane

After leaving the library, Reiner walked down the shadowy hallway towards the office of Henry Hoover. His murder was one of the most brutal ones other than the eldest son’s. The door was barely on its rusted hinges. After skillfully maneuvering around the rotted wood, he made it inside the office. The room was in disarray. Collapsed bookshelves with badly degraded remains of what he could only assume were books covered all the walls up to the ceiling. The desk was almost in the middle of the room and covered with various graffiti including the very informative “Jeff was fucked here.” After an uneventful period of time and lots of sneezing, Reiner left the office to head to the one room he was the most excited about visiting; Bertholdt Hoover’s room.

The door seemed pretty intact and undamaged. Not a trace of graffiti was on the wood. Reiner cautiously opened the door and walked inside. It was like the resident of the room never left. The bed was neatly made, bookshelves were covered in a fine layer of dust and cobwebs, and the dresser and desk looked like they were brand new. Reiner had to admit that the room was cleaner than his room had ever been. Reiner decided to do something spontaneous, he would use a spirit box and try to find this elusive so-called “ghost”. A loud crackling sound broke the silence of the room as Reiner set the speed of the spirit box to the number written on the side in white paint pen. Reiner could see why Shane hated the spirit box so much now and honestly couldn’t blame him. He wasn’t going to be all warm and fuzzy with the spirit like Ryan did in every episode, he was going to taunt the ghost and see if he could piss it off enough to show itself, which it won’t because ghosts are just figments of the imagination.   
“Who’s in here?” Reiner asked.  
Static was his only reply   
“I didn’t take you for a coward.”  
A few garbled noises that a believer would have called a response cut through the static.  
“What? Are you too scared to answer me like a man?”  
The noises got louder. A Boogara would have been pissing themselves by now, but not this Shaniac.  
“I’ll tell you what, Bertholdt.”  
A noise that could have been discernible as “What” came from the box.  
“If you’re real, come and hitch a ride home with me! If you’ve been stuck in here for a hundred years it would be nice to see some new scenery, am I right?”  
The garbled noises got even louder. Ryan would have been losing his mind, like with the Al Capone session. The room suddenly felt like a freezer. There was a window but it was boarded up. Reiner couldn’t hear any wind outside. Reiner could see his breath in front of his face. He zipped up his jacket and pulled the hood up. It still felt like he was wearing nothing but a thin T-Shirt. Reiner panned his flashlight around the room. Out of the corner of his eye, he thought he saw a large shadow. Reiner whirled around and shone his flashlight in the spot. Nothing was there, and there was nothing big enough in the room that could’ve made a shadow like that. The flashlight began to dim the longer he pointed at the spot until it went completely out. After banging the flashlight against his palm in a futile attempt to revive it, Reiner grabbed the spirit box and shut it off. He stumbled through the darkness until he felt the freezing doorknob. As he stepped out of the room, he could feel a significant change in the temperature. Reiner leaned back into the room; it was the same temperature as it was outside. Unzipping and pulling off his jacket, Reiner walked back downstairs to grab his phone as a replacement for his flashlight. What he didn’t see was the large shadow lurking behind him


	6. Wandering Eyes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anyone that knows which Junji Ito story I’m talking about gets a jellybean

After grabbing his phone and responding to texts from his mom and Gabi, Reiner decided to investigate the basement. On the map, Reiner saw that two staircases to the basement were drawn; One through the kitchen pantry and one underneath the main staircase he took upstairs. Reiner saw that Armin drew a big red “X” on the kitchen stairs with the note “Rotten” on it. Reiner went towards the main staircase and searched for the door on the side. It was at the back of the staircase base with a smiling devil spray painted on the side, almost as if it was peeking out. Reiner opened the door with a hard jerk and shone his phone down the stairs. They looked stable enough but not something he’d run on anytime soon. Each stair creaked as he walked down to the basement. When he reached the bottom of the stairs, Reiner saw that the floor was made of dirt. The basement looked almost as big as the living room. It was completely empty. “It must have been used as an icehouse.” Reiner thought to himself. He panned his phone over the floor before something caught his eye. There was a discolored spot in the dirt in the far west corner of the basement. Reiner walked closer to get a better look at it. The spot was a bit bigger than a MacBook and almost rust colored. Before Reiner could investigate further a strange noise broke through the silence.  
THUMP

THUMP

THUMP

THUMP

Were those…

Footsteps?

THUMP

THUMP

THUMP

Reiner bolted to the stairs. The door was still open and it didn’t look like there was anyone near the door. Reiner went up the stairs as quickly and carefully as possible. When he reached the top there was nobody in eyeshot. He raced to the window and looked outside. There were no cars parked outside. Somebody could have walked from the highway and sneaked in.  
THUMP

THUMP

THUMP  
They were definitely footsteps. Reiner went up the stairs to the second floor. He looked down the hallways. Everything looked the same as it did an hour ago. Reiner decided to look in all the rooms to see if anyone was hiding.  
THUMP

THUMP

THUMP  
It sounded like someone was walking right above him. Reiner walked further down the hallway to see if he could see anything. At the end of the hallway, there was a staircase that led to a door that was about ten feet off the ground. The stairs were covered with dust and there were do signs that anyone walked up or down them in a while.  
THUMP

THUMP

THUMP  
Reiner cautiously put his foot on the first stair to see if it could support his weight. With a small creak, he slowly walked up the staircase. The doorknob was almost shining under his flashlight. The door looked like it was freshly painted. Reiner cautiously grabbed the doorknob and slowly turned it. The door swung open without a sound. Reiner peeked inside and guided his flashlight through the attic. There were beams supporting the roof. Moonlight was shining through the windows showing large objects that were covered with white sheets. It was bright enough that Reiner could turn off his flashlight. Large dark boxes stacked on top of each other in a corner caught Reiner’s eye. As he walked closer, he saw that they weren’t boxes, rather engraved slabs of granite. Reiner wiped his hand over the nearest slab, there was a name and date engraved on it. Reiner looked at the others and saw they had engraving on them too. These were the old gravestones of the Hoover family before they were exhumed and moved to the private crypt where they rested to this day. Reiner moved towards the other sheet covered objects and carefully removed them. Under them were china vases, paintings, a few mannequins with dresses on them, wooden chests, books, furniture, and other miscellaneous items. Reiner was surprised with the condition of these items. They looked like they could have been professionally restored in a museum. Reiner couldn’t understand why Marco’s family didn’t remove them from the attic. There were a sturdy set of stairs and surely they were safer in some sort of vault than the attic of an abandoned house. Reiner decided to take pictures of the items to show Marco when he picked him up in a few hours. Reiner put the sheets back over the items to keep them safe from vandals and the elements until they could be moved. Reiner checked his phone for the time, 3:47 AM. He had a few more hours to explore the house and get some rest before Marco picked him up. When Reiner looked up from his phone, something unusual caught his eye. The back wall. It was fluttering? It was like that one chick from Junji Ito that had a dissection fetish. That panel still gave him the creeps. Reiner turned his flashlight on for more light. That’s when he realized the wall was actually another sheet. How could he have missed that? Reiner saw that the entire wall was covered with the sheet. What could be so big that it had taken up the entire wall? Reiner propped his phone up on one of the vases and firmly tugged the sheet. Reiner’s eyes widened when he saw what was under it. It was a painting of the entire Hoover family. The painting was so well done it was like the family was sitting right in front of him. Reiner scanned the painting for an artist’s signature on the painting to see if the artist had done any other work. His train of thought was derailed when he laid eyes on a figure in the top right corner. The eldest son, Bertholdt. His eyes were painted a forest green and looked like they were staring into his soul. His skin was almost like chocolate. His raven hair was neatly styled and looked so real, that Reiner could lean in and touch it. He was wearing a teal sweater with a white collared shirt underneath. The painting couldn’t have been finished at least a few months to a year before the murders. He looked so happy for someone that was about to die. Reiner shook his head and tore his eyes away from Bertholdt. What was he doing? He was ogling at a painting of a guy that’s been dead for 100 years. Reiner quickly took a picture of the painting and sped walked out of the attic. Reiner took one last glance over his shoulder at the painting. He could have sworn those eyes were following him as he shut the door.


	7. Morning

Reiner rolled his sleeping bag up and placed it by his duffel bag at the door. Reiner checked his phone to see if Marco called. It was 5:25 AM so he had a bit of time until Marco was supposed to come get him. Reiner hoped that he would bring some coffee with him, he barely got any sleep that night due to the gut feeling that he was being watched. He just spent the past three hours catching up on the last season of The Mandalorian until he watched the season two premiere with Gabi on Halloween and watching the last season of The Clone Wars. Reiner decided to do one final sweep of the house before he left. Nothing seemed to have changed since he had last been there. His heart skipped a beat when he looked inside the library. The book he threw. It was back on the table with the bookmark inside. Reiner slowly opened the book as if it would explode. He felt like he would be sick when he saw that the bookmark was on the same page it was on before he shut it. Reiner tried to come up with a rational explanation until he heard a car horn outside. Reiner ran downstairs and looked outside to see Marco walking towards the front door. Reiner grabbed his bags and walked out the door. The morning air was a bit chilly as Marco helped him put his bags in the trunk. Reiner sighed as he felt the heater blasting when he got into the passenger's seat. “I didn’t know how you take your coffee, so I just got you my usual.” Marco said as he handed him a cup of coffee. Reiner thanked him as he took a sip. A little bit sweeter than he usually takes his coffee but it was good enough for him. “Do you mind if I turn some music on?” Marco asked as they pulled out onto the highway.   
Reiner shrugged. Reiner was a little surprised when he heard Gerard Way coming from the speakers. “You never struck me as an MCR guy.” Reiner said.   
“Oh yeah, I’m a huge fan!” Marco said as he tapped his fingers on the steering wheel to the rhythm of “Boy Division”   
“So did you see anything?” Marco asked.  
Reiner suddenly remembered the photos.   
“Oh yeah, I was meaning to ask you about the attic.” Reiner said as he pulled out his phone.  
Marco’s brow furrowed. “The attic?”  
“Yeah. I found all this stuff up there and was wondering why it wasn’t somewhere safer.” Reiner said as he handed Marco his phone.  
Marco’s eyes lit up as he saw the photos.  
“How did you get up there?” Marco asked  
Reiner was confused. “The staircase at the end of the East hallway with the white door.”   
Marco gave him a strange look.   
“You’re sure you used a staircase?”   
Reiner’s brow furrowed.  
“...Yeah I’m pretty sure I used a staircase.”  
Marco chuckled.  
“The only staircase to the attic collapsed when my parents were teenagers over thirty years ago.”

After an hour of small talk, Marco dropped Reiner off at his house and invited him to lunch at the diner later on. Reiner dropped his bags in the living room and walked into the kitchen. There was a note from his mother saying that she and his father had to go pick up some more shipping boxes from the next town over and that Gabi was at Zofia’s house watching The Mandalorian with the other two boys he met at the diner, Falco and Udo. Reiner grabbed a glass of water from the kitchen before heading upstairs to his room. There were some boxes in his room but at least his bed was clear. He would have to unpack all of them this week or his mother would start nagging him about it. Reiner went to go take a shower before he could go to sleep. He couldn’t stop thinking about the painting. Those green eyes were burnt into his memory. Reiner stood there until the water started getting cold. Reiner got out of the shower and into some sweatpants and a tank top. He flopped onto his bed and pulled a blanket over him. Reiner was about to drift off to sleep until he heard a quiet gasp behind him.   
“W-where am I?”   
Reiner jolted up and whirled around. His heart started beating a million miles an hour when he saw a tall kid with black hair and dark green eyes staring down at him. It was the guy from the painting.   
For the first time in his life, Reiner screamed like a little girl


	8. Bertholdt

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I enjoyed writing this chapter a little too much

Reiner was at a loss for words. It had to be a prank! Or he was hallucinating! Maybe he inhaled some kind of mold at that house? Reiner closed his eyes and grabbed the glass of water from his nightstand and dumped it on his face. He kept his eyes closed for a while and hoped that when he opened them, he would be gone. Reiner slowly opened his eyes to see that the taller boy was now sitting at the end of his bed, giving him a concerned look.  
“Are you ok?” He quietly asked.  
Reiner shook his head.  
“No! No I’m not ok! Who are you and how the hell did you get into my house?!” Reiner snapped.  
The boy’s brows furrowed.  
“I’m Bertholdt Hoover… And you invited me here!” He replied.  
“Invited you?? When did I do that!” Reiner asked.  
Bertholdt looked irritated.  
“When you walked into my room, uninvited, started insulting me, and told me to hitch a ride back home with you!” Bertholdt snapped back.  
Reiner remembered that. Maybe he was being a little too harsh. Reiner decided to go out on a limb. There was no way this guy was the real Bertholdt Hoover. He had to be an actor. So he decided to run a little test. Reiner inched his way over to the boy next to him and extended his hand. Bertholdt just stared at it and gave a breathy laugh before extending his own hand. Reiner reached out to grab it only to grab air. Reiner looked down to see his hand had gone straight through Bertholdt’s hand.  
Well.  
That’s a little hard to fake.  
Reiner decided to see if his hand would go through anything else. Reiner pulled his hand back and aimed to slap Bertholdt’s face. Hard.  
Again, his hand went right through and hit his wall with a bang. Bertholdt just gave him a disapproving look. Reiner tried punching him in the chest. Went through again. For another twenty minutes, Reiner tried to land a blow on Bertholdt, who only sat there acting bored.  
“So first you invade my personal space and then try to assault me? Rude.” Bertholdt huffed as Reiner’s fist went through his head.  
“Could you just stop?” Bertholdt scowled while staring Reiner dead in the eye. Forest green rivaling bright amber.  
“The definition of insanity is doing something over and over again, expecting different results. Which is what you’ve been doing for the past twenty minutes!” Bertholdt snapped.  
Reiner stared at him for a minute before waving his arm through Bertholdt’s chest.  
“I’d really appreciate it if you didn’t keep putting your hands through my body.” Bertholdt groaned as he stared up at the ceiling. Reiner pulled his arm back and had a staring match with him for a second. “So… you’re actually dead?” Reiner asked.  
“What do you think, genius?” Bertholdt scoffed.  
“I’m guessing yes?”  
“That is correct.” Bertholdt said with a smug smile.  
“So how do I get you to go away?” Reiner asked.  
Bertholdt snorted. “You really got straight to the point!”  
“Don’t get me wrong, you’re an absolute joy to be around, but the feeling is mutual.” Bertholdt said.  
“Well, at least we’re being honest with each other.” Reiner replied.  
Reiner ran his fingers through his hair.  
“Look. I’m going to go to sleep and pray that you’re gone when I wake up.” Reiner said  
“And what if I’m not?” Bertholdt asked with his arms crossed.  
“I have an idea if it gets that far.” Reiner said as he buried his head under his pillow.  
After he fell asleep he didn’t hear the quiet sobbing from the end of his bed

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just imagine the Daenerys smiling at Thor meme during this part  
> “Don’t get me wrong, you’re an absolute joy to be around, but the feeling is mutual.” Bertholdt said.  
> “Well, at least we’re being honest with each other.” Reiner replied.


	9. Sighting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bertholdt Motherfucking Hoover’s time to shine

Reiner jolted awake as a shiver went up his spine. He turned around and saw that he could see his breath. Reiner quickly wrapped his blanket over his shoulders. Why the hell was it so cold? Reiner heard muffled chatter from downstairs. His parents must be home.  
“Hey, Reiner!”   
Reiner turned around to see Bertholdt standing in a corner.  
“What the hell are you doing?” Reiner whispered  
“Someone’s here.” Bertholdt hissed  
“I tried yelling at you to wake up but that didn’t work so I had to use...alternative methods.”  
He must have heard his parents and freaked out.  
“It’s ok, it's just my parents.” Reiner said as he grabbed his phone. It was 11:30. He was going to be late. Reiner muttered a curse as he grabbed a pair of jeans and a hoodie with the Nekoma team emblem on it (Birthday present from Gabi after she got him hooked to Haikyuu).   
“Come with me.” He said as he pulled on some shoes.   
“And don’t let my parents see you!” Reiner added as he walked out the door.  
Reiner managed to get out of the house after some small talk with his parents and started walking to the diner. Bertholdt was sort of walking too. His long legs were moving but Reiner couldn’t see his feet.  
“So where are we going?” Bertholdt asked.  
“We’re going to the diner. I have lunch with some friends and they might be able to help with our situation.” Reiner said.  
Bertholdt looked confused. “What’s a diner?”  
Reiner did a mental facepalm. Of course he didn’t know what a diner was. He’d have to explain a lot to him about technology and the state of the world. Especially Eren if he was wearing a dress again today.   
“It’s a restaurant.” Reiner said  
That seemed to click with Bertholdt as he nodded his head.   
“Look, uh. I know we really didn’t start off on good terms this morning and I wanted to apologize.” Reiner said as he stared at his feet.  
Bertholdt was silent for a minute.  
“No, I should be apologizing to you.”   
Reiner looked up at Bertholdt with a small smile.  
“You were just curious and I should have been more considerate about your situation. I would have done the same thing if some strange dead guy showed up in my room.”   
“So… Let’s start over again?” Reiner hopefully asked.   
“Sure.”

They talked for a while about what Bertholdt’s life was like as they walked. Bertholdt seemed like a pretty decent guy from what he told Reiner. He was born five years after the civil war ended, liked to read, loved his family, and wanted to explore the world one day. But he died before he could do that. Bertholdt looked like he was about to ask a question when he suddenly gasped.   
“What is it? Is everything ok?” Reiner asked.  
“E-everything looks so different.” Bertholdt mumbled as he gaped at the buildings in front of them. Bertholdt’s eyes were wide as they darted from building to building. Reiner kinda felt bad for him. He died in an age where only the rich had electricity and now this new, modern world was coming as an icy shock to him. Bertholdt looked like he was going to be sick before Reiner led him into the diner. Reiner hoped he didn’t freak out and was about to ask him if he was ok before a loud crash derailed his train of thought.  
“What the fuck, Horse Face!” Eren exclaimed as he bent over to pick a broken coffee cup with Levi helping him. Reiner turned to see that Jean was sitting at the bar, with his eyes wide and his jaw dropped. Reiner tried not to react when he saw that Jean was staring at where Bertholdt was supposed to be. Marco was trying to get Jean out of his trance, but was brushed off as Jean bolted from his stool and grabbed Reiner by the arm, dragging him outside.  
Jean didn’t say a word as he pulled Reiner into a back alley behind the diner.  
“Who the fuck is that?!” Jean screeched as he pointed at Bertholdt.  
Reiner was shocked. He never expected someone as rational as Jean to be able to see Bertholdt.   
“You can see him too?” Reiner asked as he too pointed at Bertholdt. Jean put his head in his hands. “Y’know what? I think this is a good time for me to lay off the caffeine!” Jean said.  
“I was stupid to think that drinking five cups of coffee and a pack of Monster wouldn’t have any side effects!”  
“Look, I know this seems weird but I’m pretty sure he’s real.” Reiner said.   
Jean ignored him. “And if that’s who I think it is, maybe I should take a little break from research! Yeah! Move on to the Zodiac or Jack the Ripper for a few weeks!” Jean was really in denial now.  
“Who is it?” Reiner asked out of curiosity. Jean never specified that he was seeing Bertholdt and not someone else.  
“I’m looking at Bertholdt Motherfucking Hoover!” Jean said as pointed at him.  
Bertholdt didn’t seem amused with the nickname.  
“You know I’m right here.” Bertholdt said.  
“And he talks too!” Jean said as his voice raised an octave.  
“This can’t be happening, This can’t be happening, This can’t be happening, This can’t be happening!!!” Jean muttered to himself as he paced back and forth. The sound of a door opening made them both freeze in place.   
“Don’t make me wait baby~” Eren said in a seductive tone as he walked out the diner back door before stopping dead in his tracks with his jaw dropped. Eren started to raise a shaky hand to point at Bertholdt.  
“Let me guess, Belle Delphine sees him too.” Jean muttered.   
“For the last damn time. I had that OnlyFans account for a day!” Eren scowled as Levi came out behind him holding a condom in his hand. Levi quickly tucked it in the back pocket of Eren’s jeans when he saw Jean and Reiner. Levi seemed completely unphased as he gave Reiner and Jean a blank look. Reiner looked up at Bertholdt to see that he was sweating nervously.   
“What are you looking at?” Levi asked.   
Eren gave him a surprised look. “You mean you can’t see him?” Eren asked.   
“See who?” Levi replied.  
“Be happy he can’t see you.” Jean said to Bertholdt. “He would have tried to beat the shit outta you.”   
Bertholdt seemed to start sweating even more at that comment. Levi’s brow raised. “Who are you talking to?” Levi glared at Jean and Reiner. Reiner was surprised that such a small guy was so intimidating. He was almost a foot shorter than him and Bertholdt.  
“It’s Bertholdt. The dead guy.” Jean deadpanned   
Levi’s brows disappeared underneath his blonde bangs.  
“Really?” Levi asked. He looked at Eren who nodded in confirmation.  
“Why’s he here?” Levi asked as he walked around, waving his arms out in an attempt to find Bertholdt.  
“I don’t know. Must’ve followed Reiner home last night.” Jean shrugged.   
Levi stopped in front of Reiner. If looks could kill, Reiner would be in a body bag with the look Levi was giving him. “What’s so special about you that a ghost that nobody’s ever reported being seen just decides to show himself to you?” Levi asked. Reiner felt Bertholdt’s presence trying to hide behind him even though Levi couldn’t even see him.   
“Well…he wants to go home and I don’t know how to help him. I kinda taunted him last night and told him to come home with me.” Reiner said. Eren sighed in exasperation and shook his head. “Ghost Rule #1! Never taunt a ghost or tell it to come home with you because it will bind itself to you!”   
Reiner was confused. Did Bertholdt bind himself to Reiner?  
“That would have been nice to know before I went to the house, don’t you think?!” Reiner said   
“It’s common knowledge, dipshit!” Eren replied.  
“How the fuck was I supposed to know that?!”  
“I thought you did!”  
“Anything else I should have known?! Don’t lay on a pentagram and taunt Satan or you’ll get possessed?!”  
“I’m finally gonna get possessed?”   
“Shut it, Horse Face!”  
“Will all of you brats just shut up?” Levi snapped.  
He intervened at the perfect time. Reiner was about to tackle Jean to prevent him from lunging at Eren. Bertholdt was backed into the wall looking terrified.   
“Guys, let’s stop fighting and try to figure this out like adults.” Reiner announced. “And look at Bertholdt!” Reiner said as he gestured to the spot Bertholdt was. “We just scared the shit out of him!” Eren and Jean had guilty looks plastered on their faces.   
“Hey, I know someone we can talk to that knows more about this stuff.” Eren said  
Levi’s eyes went wide. “No. I’m not doing it.”  
“Come on! She’s family!” Eren pouted.  
“I don’t care! The last time we did occult shit with Mikasa, I had to go get a tetanus shot and twenty stitches!” Levi griped.  
“I told you it wasn’t a good idea to try and go up that staircase! But you didn’t listen to me, it was your own fault that you fell through! And we’re going to my basement! So stop being a baby!” Eren said.  
“Even worse! That place is filthy!” Levi said.  
“It’s clean! Just not spotless like you want it to be! Lower your standards!” Eren scowled.   
“Are they always like this?” Reiner whispered to Jean as the couple continued bickering. Jean nodded. “They’re either fucking or arguing. Or both at once.”  
“It’s worse when they’re both drunk.” Jean added  
“You know what? If you don’t go, I’m calling them!” Eren threatened.  
Levi’s eyes went wide. “You wouldn’t dare…”   
“Try me.” Eren said as he put his hands on his hips. Levi sighed in defeat. “See you tonight.” He muttered as he walked back into the diner. Eren turned back to Bertholdt. “Sorry about Levi. He can be a little… intimidating at times, but he’s really sweet once you get to know him.”   
Bertholdt looked at the ground and quietly thanked Eren.   
“Mikasa’s my adopted sister and Levi’s her cousin.” Eren said. “Mikasa wasn’t that happy when we started dating, so there’s a bit of tension between them.”  
“So what’s the plan?” Jean asked.  
“We’re going to have a seance at my place at 3AM. You can spend the night if you want, but don’t be late.” Eren said as he disappeared behind the door.   
Reiner and Jean stood in silence for a bit.  
“Hey can you do me a favor?” Jean asked  
“Sure. What do you need?”  
“Don’t tell Marco about this or I’m stuck doing laundry for six months.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading this chapter AKA “ReiBert feat Jean cockblock Eren and Levi


	10. Preparation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Merry belated Christmas or whatever holiday you celebrate!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy watching Eren flirt with Reiner, Levi about to end a bloodline, Bertholdt simp for Derek Morgan, Jean being a Monster dealer, and Mikasa have heart to heart with Bertholdt’s chest

Karina was ecstatic when Reiner told her about staying at Eren’s for the night. She was a little surprised that Reiner had made friends within a few days of them moving to a new town. She didn’t seem to notice Bertholdt hovering behind him. Reiner managed to escape to his room after telling his mom that he needed to sleep after last night. Reiner locked his bedroom door behind him and flopped onto his bed. How was this happening? He walked into that house with a rational explanation for everything and when he walked out, he had a ghost buddy. Maybe he was just dreaming all this up and he’d wake up and forget about it later. Reiner sat up and scanned the room for Bertholdt, only to see him crouched on the floor with his back facing Reiner.  
“Whatcha lookin at?” Reiner asked as he tried to sit next to him without his arm or knee going through Bertholdt’s body. Bertholdt was staring at his laptop sticking out of his backpack.  
“I’ve never seen anything like it.” Bertholdt said.  
Reiner pulled the laptop out and started it up.  
“It’s called a laptop.” Reiner said.  
“You can communicate with people through it, listen to music, watch movies, do shopping, read, and lots of other stuff.”  
Bertholdt stared in awe as Reiner pulled up different tabs to show Bertholdt examples.  
Reiner was interrupted by a Discord notification on his screen.  
Not_Sangw00: Hey Reiner.  
He didn’t recognize the username.  
“What’s that?” Bertholdt asked over his shoulder.  
“It’s called Discord. You can talk to people all around the world.” Reiner said as he typed a reply.  
You: Who is this?  
Not_Sangw00: Jean  
Not_Sangw00: I can see your ghost buddy  
Not_Sangw00: I have the link to Eren’s OnlyFans account  
You: How’d u get my discord?  
Not_Sangw00: Gabi  
Not_Sangw00: We trade manga  
Not_Sangw00: ask her if she has any Jujutsu Kaisen  
You: Can I have ur number?  
Not_Sangw00: XXX-XXX-XXXX  
“Who’s that?” Bertholdt asked.  
“Jean from the diner.” Reiner replied as he grabbed his phone and texted the number Jean gave him. He and Jean texted for a bit. They agreed on leaving their houses at 10:00. Jean would meet him outside his house and they’d walk to Eren’s place where he, Levi, and Mikasa would be waiting. They’d probably screw around for five hours until the seance started.  
“You wanna watch something?” Reiner asked  
Bertholdt tilted his head.  
Reiner tried to think of a way to explain this to Bertholdt that would make sense to him.  
“It’s like a play but you can watch it anytime anyplace.” Reiner said as he opened Netflix. Bertholdt looked like he kind of understood. He scooted over on the bed so he could sit by Reiner to get a better view.  
“What’s Supernatural?” Bertholdt asked as he looked at the screen.  
“It’s about two brothers that hunt ghosts and demons.”  
Bertholdt looked intrigued.  
“You wanna watch a few episodes?” Reiner asked.

“Wait so killing Lilith was a bad thing?” Bertholdt gasped.  
“I know, major plot twist there…” Reiner said as he shook his head. He checked his phone as the next episode began. Almost ten. Jean would be here any minute now. Reiner paused the episode when he heard a knock on his bedroom door. He turned his head to signal Bertholdt to hide as the door opened.  
“Reiner? There’s someone at the door for you.” Karina said.  
“And he has an...interesting fashion sense.” 

When Reiner got to the door, he could see why his mother was a little surprised about Jean’s appearance. In the few hours that passed, Jean’s hair had turned from sandy blonde to cotton candy pink. He was sporting his signature black leather jacket with a shirt that had Hannibal Lecter’s face on it underneath. He was wearing combat boots with silver steel tips and acid washed torn, black, skinny jeans. He noticed he was wearing a spiked dog collar that didn’t cover a few purple hickeys scattered around his slender neck. He was also wearing a black chain cuff earrings with ouija planchettes as the studs.  
Marco must have had some fun last night.  
“What’s with the hair?”  
“I had to dye my hair whatever color Marco wanted if I became a believer in ghosts.” Jean sighed in exasperation  
“Don’t worry, it’ll be out in a week. I need to be blonde if Marco and I still wanna do our yearly psychopath couple costumes for Halloween.”  
For some reason Reiner could visualize Jean and Marco cosplaying as Hannibal and Will.  
“Guess you’re stuck on laundry duty, right?” Reiner asked.  
“Yeeeep.” Jean said as he tugged on his collar.  
“What’s up, Casper the Friendly Ghost?” Jean said before taking a sip of the can of Monster that appeared out of thin air. Reiner looked beside him to see Bertholdt hovering next to him.  
“Who’s Casper the Friendly Ghost?” Bertholdt asked with a curious look on his face.  
“Oh you poor soul, what was life like before Star Trek?” Jean said.

The walk to Eren’s was surprisingly short. His house was almost identical to Reiner’s. Bright red door and all. Jean hadn’t even knocked on the door when a woman with a ponytail shot out of the door and pulled Jean into a hug.  
“Jean! It’s been so long since you’ve visited!” The woman said as pulled away from the hug. Reiner could see that she was an almost carbon copy of Eren except she was a few inches shorter. She turned towards Reiner and pulled him into a tight hug before looking up at him.  
“You must be Reiner! I’m Carla, Eren and Mikasa’s mom!”  
Reiner could see Bertholdt standing behind Jean with sweat rolling down his forehead. Could ghosts even sweat? Carla pulled Reiner and Jean towards the door and seemed to be completely unaware of Bertholdt’s presence.  
Once they got inside, Reiner could see Levi sitting at the kitchen island holding a cup by it’s rim in his hand. His well toned, tattooed body was visible through the white tank top he was wearing. He gave them a curt nod before going back to his drink.  
“Hey Horse Face? Did you bring my Ultra Rose?” Eren asked. His messy brown bun and eyes were peeking over a large couch behind Levi. Jean unzipped his backpack and hurled a pink can at Eren’s head. Levi sucked in the nick of time before the can made contact with Eren’s forehead. Eren yelped in pain as he fell off the couch with a thud. Reiner had a hard time holding back laughter as Jean began sniggering next to him. Even Bertholdt was grinning.  
“Nice toss, asshole!” Eren sneered as he prepared to throw a teal houseshoe at Jean.  
The shoe barely missed Jean and flew through Bertholdt’s chest.  
“Oh, sorry!” Eren said with an apologetic look.  
“You call that a throw, Yeager? You throw like a girl!” Jean snickered  
“Why thank you.” Eren said as put a hand on his very tiny waist and winked at Reiner. Reiner felt his face going red until he could see Levi giving him a deadly glare. He could have taken out Thanos with that glare, Infinity Gauntlet and all.  
“Where’s Mikasa?” Jean asked.  
“She’s downstairs doing a cleansing ritual.” Eren said as he popped the tab of his Monster.  
“You guys wanna watch Criminal Minds while we wait?” Eren asked as he slurped his drink before turning and strutting to the couch. Reiner had a hard time not staring at Eren’s shapely ass that was brought out by black booty shorts. Reiner could see a small tattoo saying “Lucky You” sticking out underneath. Reiner was yanked back into reality as Jean kicked him hard in the shin. Reiner looked down to see Levi staring up at them. His steely grey eyes were brought out by his black eyeshadow and heavy black eyeliner. Reiner made a mental note to ask him for makeup tips sometime. His arms were folded across his chest, showing off heavily tattooed biceps. Reiner thought he was about to lose the chance of ever having children in later life until Levi turned his attention to Jean.  
“You got any Pacific Punch?” He asked.  
Jean fumbled around in his backpack before pulling out a tan colored can. Levi took it from his hand and shot a glare at Reiner before walking away.  
“Dude. That was lucky.” Jean whispered.  
“I thought he was gonna beat the shit outta you.” Jean handed Reiner a green can before zipping up his backpack.  
“So they’re courting?” Bertholdt meekly asked over their heads. Jean cocked a brow at Bertholdt. Reiner was impressed that Bertholdt was so chill about Eren and Levi’s relationship.  
“Sort of…” Reiner said as he took a sip.

Reiner was surprised that he actually liked Criminal Minds. His mom tried introducing it to him a few years back but he was too preoccupied trying to get caught up on My Hero Academia before the next season. Bertholdt was plopped down on the floor and seemed to like it too. Reiner thought he could see a blush on Bertholdt’s cheeks whenever Morgan would appear on screen. They had just finished the Bone Windchime episode when the basement door burst open.  
“My Tarot have been cleansed!” Mikasa announced as her earrings swayed back and forth.  
“So where is Bertholdt?” Mikasa asked as she scanned the room. She must have not been able to see him either. Reiner looked down to see Bertholdt’s head tilted up and gazing into his eyes. Reiner swallowed hard before pointing down at where Bertholdt was sitting. Mikasa slowly walked towards Reiner and Bertholdt before sitting down next to where Bertholdt was. She was staring right where his chest was supposed to be with a gentle smile on her face.  
“Tonight we’re going to do something a little strange.” Mikasa said to Bertholdt’s chest.  
“We’re going to try and have you manipulate a few objects so those of us that can’t see you can talk with you.”  
Bertholdt looked up at Reiner with a puzzled expression.  
“We’ll start in an hour, so save up your strength!” Mikasa cheerfully exclaimed before jumping onto the couch next to Levi. Reiner turned his attention back to the new episode before a small gust of wind on his exposed ankles made him look down at Bertholdt. He looked like a scared kitten.  
“Reiner?” Bertholdt whispered.  
“Everything ok?” Reiner replied  
“I-it’s nothing…” Bertholdt muttered as he fiddled with a string on his sweater.  
“Bertholdt.”  
“I-I’m just a little nervous about tonight…”  
Reiner was confused.  
“What are you nervous about?”  
Bertholdt started sweating again.  
“What if I mess something up? I always mess stuff up…” Bertholdt said under his breath as he held his head in his hands.  
“You won’t.” Reiner said  
“Just listen to Mikasa and you’ll do great.”  
Bertholdt slowly nodded and seemed to perk up.  
“You promise?” Bertholdt quietly asked as his big green eyes blinked at Reiner.  
Reiner smiled. 

“I promise.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What psycho couple shall Jean and Marco dress up as this Halloween?
> 
> I’m open for suggestions


	11. Seance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO OUR BABY BERTHOLDT💙🤍💙🤍

When 3AM came around, an eerie silence filled the Yeager home, even with the TV on. Mikasa led them down the dark staircase to the basement. The basement itself was very tidy, Reiner couldn’t see what Levi’s problem was. There was a small table in the center of the basement with a black wooden box directly in the middle. The basement was lit only by candlelight. Reiner had a hard time navigating through the basement to get to the table in the poor lighting. Everyone was seated (including Bertholdt) “So you said that Reiner opened his home to a spirit?” Mikasa asked.  
Reiner nodded as he admired the dent in the basement floor.  
“And now this spirit follows you?” Mikasa sighed  
“Yes…” Reiner muttered.  
Mikasa shook her head.  
“And now Eren and Jean can see this spirit?” Mikasa huffed.  
“The spirit has a name!” Bertholdt scowled as crossed his arms.  
“First things first, we need to find out how we can break the bind the spirit has to Reiner.”  
Mikasa said as she folded her hands on the table.  
“And how are we supposed to do that?” Jean asked.  
“By putting it to rest.” Mikasa said as she opened the wooden box.  
It was an ouija board.  
Mikasa moved the planchette to the middle of the board.  
“Everyone, put one hand on the planchette, don’t move it under any circumstances or you will be possessed by the Devil.”  
Reiner saw Jean grinning maniacally from the corner of his eye at the mention of possibility being possessed.  
“Now, let us begin!”  
Everyone put a hand on the planchette. Once they all spelt their names on the board, Mikasa stilled the planchette in the middle of the board.  
“Are there any spirits with us tonight?” Mikasa asked. The planchette remained still. Reiner looked towards Bertholdt sitting next to him. His eyes were locked on the planchette with his brow furrowed as he tried to move it. Reiner saw Jean giving Bertholdt a thumbs up. Reiner nearly jumped out of his seat when he felt the planchette slowly moving up. Bertholdt was grinning ear to ear as his hand moved the planchette up to “Yes”. Reiner had to stop himself from patting Bertholdt on the back before remembering it would go straight through.  
Mikasa gasped when she saw the planchette move.  
“W-who’s here with us?”  
Bertholdt still had a smile on his face as he slowly started moving the planchette.  
“B”  
“E”  
“R”  
“T”  
“H”  
“O”  
“L”  
“D”  
“T”  
Levi and Mikasa had shocked looks on their faces once the planchette stilled.  
Mikasa was at a loss for words until Eren slugged her in the shoulder.  
“Do you remember who killed you?” Mikasa blurted out.  
Bertholdt looked like he was thinking for a moment until he started to move the planchette again.  
“D”  
“O”  
“N”  
“T”  
“Don’t remember?” Levi suggested.  
The planchette took even longer to get to yes as Bertholdt had to stop and take a few deep breaths and wipe sweat off his brow.  
“Is he okay?” Eren asked with a look of concern.  
“Why? What’s happening?!” Mikasa cried as she looked at the spot where Bertholdt was supposed to be.  
“He looks like he just ran a marathon.” Jean said.  
“Maybe we should stop, he looks really tired.” Reiner said as he tried to think of a way to help Bertholdt.  
“Ok, but I have one more thing!” Mikasa said as she leaned back to grab something from the table behind them while keeping her fingertips on the planchette. She sat back down and placed a flashlight on the table.  
“Bertholdt, can you please turn this on if you can.”  
Bertholdt stared at the flashlight and gave Reiner a fearful look.  
“You don’t have to do it if you’re not strong enough to do it.” Reiner whispered.  
Bertholdt shot Reiner a small smile before reaching a shaky hand to the flashlight switch.  
With a small click, a dull light shined over the candlelight. Jean and Eren high-fived each other with their free hands. Levi gave a sort of amused nod while Mikasa was almost bouncing in her seat. They quickly ended the seance and headed back upstairs to the kitchen. Eren was rummaging through the fridge as Jean passed around cans of Monster while downing his fifth can of the night. Bertholdt seemed to be slumped against the archway and was groaning in discomfort.  
“Almighty Goth Sister, what wise decision must we make to put Slenderman’s soul to rest?” Eren dramatically asked as he pulled out a pint of ice cream.  
Mikasa rolled her eyes. “I have a few ideas…”  
“And?” Levi asked as he poured himself a hot cup of tea.  
“The first thing that really comes to mind, is solving his murder.” Mikasa said.  
Jean snot rocketed his Monster. “I’m sorry but did I hear you just say, ‘solve a 130 year old mass murder that nobody has managed to find a solid lead on?’”  
Mikasa nodded.  
“Well pardon my French, but how the hell are we supposed to do that?” Jean said as he wiped Mango Loco off his face.

After another twenty minutes of the group bickering, they had agreed to tell the rest of Jean and Mikasa’s group that were investigating the murders about Bertholdt during their next meeting. Reiner and Jean decided to leave the Yeager house after they found Eren and Levi making out in the pantry. It was pitch black outside with only a few flickering street lights piercing through the darkness. Jean decided it would be safer to go to Marco’s place and parted ways with Reiner and Bertholdt.  
They walked in uncomfortable silence for a few blocks before Reiner broke the ice.  
“So… you feeling okay after tonight?”  
Bertholdt nodded. “I’m fine, just a little tired.”  
“Can I ask you a question? You totally don’t have to answer if you don’t want to.”  
Bertholdt turned his head to make eye contact with Reiner.  
“Do… do you remember anything from when you died?”  
Bertholdt went pale.  
Reiner mentally punched himself.  
Why did he think that was a good idea?  
He got brutally murdered!  
Of course he wouldn’t want to talk about getting his skull crushed with a sledgehammer!  
“Bertholdt I’m so sorry-“  
“No. It’s fine.” Bertholdt shrugged  
“I just remember feeling…betrayed almost, then it was cold and I was all alone.” Bertholdt shivered at the memories.  
“I’m sorry about what happened to you and your family.” Reiner said.  
“Hey, look at me.”  
Bertholdt looked up from the pavement to acknowledge the shorter blonde. Somehow his midnight hair was blowing in the night breeze.  
“I promise I’m going to help find out what happened to your family, and help put your spirit to rest.”  
Bertholdt’s brow furrowed. “But how?”  
“We can’t do it alone, some of Jean and Eren’s friends that know more about the case can help us.” Reiner said.  
“And with you here, we might be able to get some more information.”  
Bertholdt shook his head. “I don’t think I’ll be much help, I’m useless anyway…”  
Reiner stopped dead in his tracks. He was already a little surprised about Bertholdt’s comment earlier that evening but didn’t expect that Bertholdt would say something like that about himself. If Reiner could have grabbed his shoulders and given him a shakedown, he would.  
“Listen to me.” Reiner said as he stepped in front of Bertholdt. “Never say things like that about yourself, understand?”  
Bertholdt was a little taken aback by the shit eating glare Reiner was giving him.  
“You’re not useless, look at all you managed to do tonight!” Reiner exclaimed as he threw his arms out.  
“Y-you’re right, I guess…” Bertholdt mumbled as he stuck his hands in the pockets in his pants and stared down at the pavement.  
As Reiner stepped off the sidewalk to cross the road, a sudden squeal of tires made look away from Bertholdt.  
A car was about to hit him.  
Reiner closed his eyes and braced for impact before he felt a pair of hands pull him back.  
Reiner felt a jolt of pain as he put his wrist out to catch his fall. He heard the car speed away as he slowly flipped himself over. His wrist was throbbing as he looked for whoever pulled him back. There was nobody there but Bertholdt.  
Who was staring at his hands?  
Bertholdt was looking at his hands with wide eyes and his jaw dropped.  
“Did you just pull me back?” Reiner asked.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel so bad for writing Bertholdt being self loathing but it’s all for ✨character development✨
> 
> *resumes writing more Reibert fluff and listening to MCR*


End file.
